


The Oyster and the Flying Fish

by lionstigersandbearsohmy



Series: Summer of Destiel Drabbles [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-26
Updated: 2016-05-26
Packaged: 2018-07-10 06:42:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6970390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lionstigersandbearsohmy/pseuds/lionstigersandbearsohmy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A little modern Destiel parable, of sorts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Oyster and the Flying Fish

**Author's Note:**

> Based on "The Oyster and the Flying Fish" by Kevin Ayers and the Whole World, with the lovely Bridget St. John sharing vocals.
> 
> I wanted to try my hand at writing this kind of story at least once, so here goes. Also, I couldn't pass up comparing them to an oyster and flying fish.

_An oyster was a’travelling_  
_Along the ocean road;_  
 _He’d been some time preparing,_  
 _And now he’d left the fold._

Cas was fucking excited! And the triple shot espresso probably wasn’t helping, either. Today was his first day working for Valmont Images. He’d sent in his resume only after Gabe had blackmailed him with pictures taken during one of his college blackouts. When they called back with a job offer, though, he had put them on hold so that he could jump around and scream. Of course, he'd accepted. And now? First day jitters.

Cas had graduated over seven years ago, and had worked for a few midsize studios since then. At first he’d loved it, but doing family portraits and weddings got old fast. At least they helped pay down his student loans.

Valmont, though. This was gonna be different, he could tell. For one thing, their clients were mainly in the fashion industry. They also got tapped for national ad campaigns. This was a huge step up, wasn’t it?

_He was sick of being oysterized,  
And he wanted to explode, to explode._

Six months into Valmont, and Cas was in a rut. Rather than the huge step up that he’d anticipated, this position was more grunt work. Sure, he got to work with fashion models now. But as the newest hire, his bosses were unwilling to fly him out to cover anything outside the city. Cas was pretty envious of the spreads he saw from New York, Paris and Milan. He had imagined going to such places when he’d first gotten hired. Now, though, that dream seemed out of reach.

One day, his boss came in all aflutter.

“Castiel, we need you to go out to this address now!”

“Why? What’s going on?”

“Walk and talk!” This was punctuated by a shove towards the elevators, with a file being thrust into Cas’s hands. “You need to take over Lisa’s assignment. She got food poisoning this morning. Now, this spread will be going in GQ, so don’t fuck it up. Or don’t bother coming back.”

The elevator doors closed shut on that ominous statement. Cas leaned against the back wall and took a fortifying breath before opening the file.

_He saw a pretty flying fish_  
 _And said if I could have one wish_  
 _I`d change into a flying fish,_  
 _And then I would be happy, yes I would_.

Luckily, Cas got to the set with a few minutes to spare. He quickly got his gear out and began setting up. A few assistants were standing around talking, but he quickly put them to work.

About ten minutes after Cas got there, he heard a commotion near the entrance. He looked over and saw the assistants gathered around a man trying to push his way through. His model had arrived.

Dean Winchester, as the file blithely informed him, was a top model who had walked in all three major runways, and had been plastered over numerous city walls as the face of Hugo Boss. Here was the guy who had it all, and here was the guy who was only here to photograph him.

Dean came over and introduced himself, before he was whisked off to hair and makeup. Well, point in his favor. Most models completely ignored the photographer.

Once they started shooting, Dean proved why he was a top model. He took initiative on moving around, so Cas barely had to direct him. It felt organic. Cas loved it. Why couldn’t he do more of this? Maybe afterwards, his bosses would be impressed enough to start sending Cas out to cover international venues.

As they finished up, Dean came over to Cas instead of back to hair and makeup. He began asking Cas more personal questions. Cas was reluctant to answer at first. After all, his life seemed so boring compared to Dean’s, which was filled with travel and meeting new people all the time.

Eventually, Cas blurted, “But why do you care? I’m just some two-bit photog. You, though, you’ve got so many things going for you. I wish I could be like you.”

_The flying fish came down to see_   
_Just who had made this plea;_   
_And seeing the poor oyster,_   
_Said this cannot be._   
_An oyster has to stay inside,_   
_And a flying fish must flee, all the time._

Dean seemed a bit shocked at first, but quickly recovered.

“No, man, you’ve got it all wrong. I actually _hate_ flying. The actual flight isn’t so bad, because I pop sleeping pills like candy, but sitting in the airport before the flight just gets me so worked up. And most of those people are snobs, anyway. They think flannel should be burned. That’s just wrong, dude.”

Cas was confused. So he tried again.

“But what about getting to go to other countries? I mean, you’ve been in Paris! You could go see the Louvre or something. Or how about the Milan Cathedral? And the food!”

“Pfft, seen one fancy European building, seen them all. Trust me, you aren’t missing much. And as for food, well, give me homemade apple pie any day. I wish I could just sit around, work on my Chevy Impala, and eat pie all day. You like photography, right? At least you're doing something you love.”

_As the oyster turned to go away,_   
_The flying fish was heard to say,_   
_"If I could find a place to stay,_   
_I know I would be happy, yes I would."_

**Author's Note:**

> Hmm. I suppose it is more pre-slash. If it makes you feel better, I headcanon that Cas offers his guest bedroom to Dean. Then they do the slow roommates-to-lovers shtick. But that's a story for another time. :)
> 
> And I do not own the trademarks or am affiliated with GQ or Hugo Boss at all; please don't sue my ass off.


End file.
